The author believes that it would be necessary for a student of Indian religions to undertake first of all a long and difficult investigation into sources, and further that from the point of view of the study of religions what was wanted was wanted was not so much fresh study of individual books as a clear comoprehensive survey of the literature so far as critical inquiry, translations and the publication of texts have made it known, so that the student might be able to begin the study of any part of it with intelligence and to find his way without serious difficulty to all the existing literature, modern as well as ancient which deals with the section of the field in which he is interested.

Preliminary Material -- Transcription of Indian Words -- Introduction /Bardwell L. Smith -- Religious Experience and its Institutionalization -- Caitanya's Ecstasies and the Theology of the Name -- Caitanya's Followers and the Bhagavad-Gītā: A Case Study in Bhakti and the Secular /Joseph T. O'Connell -- The Transformation of Śrī Rāmakrishna /Walter G. Neevel -- The Rāmakrishna Math and Mission /Cyrus R. Pangborn -- Mixing in the Color of Rām of Rānujā /Mira Reym Binford -- The Medieval Bhakti Movement in History /Eleanor Zelliot -- New Interpretations in Epic Mythology -- Life Out of Death /J. Bruce Long -- The Burning of the Forest Myth /Alf Hiltebeitel -- Contributors -- Index.

Comprehensive, informative and authoritative, The Penguin Handbook of the World's Living Religions is compiled by a team of leading international scholars, and is the definitive guide to the religious belief systems and practices of the world today. This in-depth survey of active religions has now been fully updated to include modern developments and the most recent scholarship. It explains the sources and history of the world's religions, includes material on the phenomenon of Black African and Asian diaspora religions around the world and explores the role of gender in modern religion.

The book provides a comprehensive account of the social, religious and economic conditions and policies from the Sultanate to the Mughal period in early medieval India. It details the account of the three centuries known for its Islamic influence and rule and the presence of formidable dynasties. The book provides a sound understanding of the history of the period and also evinces the learnings of mutual quarrels and internecine war.